Welcome to Litsy!

It‘s not Shakespeare, but it comes close. There are lots of quotable lines like “Whether we fall by ambition, blood or lust, Like diamonds we are cut with our own dust.” And I liked the Duchess‘s spirit and Bosolo‘s complexity. Looking for videos, as I like to watch plays after I read them, I happened upon an English teacher‘s lectures from lockdown that were really good. (Lucky kids who had her!) 2 for #24in2024 @Jas16

A very different duchess for my second #24in2024

AKA “Everybody Dies” and “What Did I Just Read??”
But it covers the play requirement for my local library reading challenge.

‘Time will easily scatter the tempest.‘

This is the back of my new copy of The Duchess of Malfi. So interesting!

“Of John Webster‘s life almost nothing is known. The dates 1580-1625 given for his birth and death are conjectural inferences, about which the best that can be said is that no known facts contradict them.”

"I have this night digg'd up a mandrake."
"Say you?"
"And I am grown mad with 't."

Well that WILL happen if you don't wear ear protection ?

I liked the fast pace of the play, the Duchess's attempts to control her own life, and the gonzo-ness of Act 5, but I found the timeline confusing; years seemed to pass in seconds. I read the bare-bones text from Project Gutenberg and will need to find a print copy of the play for the commentary and background.

There's Lucas Hedges, star of Manchester by the Sea (and NCSA student).

Settling down for an evening at the theatre.

"Who must dispatch me?
I account this world a tedious theater,
For I do play a part in't 'gainst my will."

Shakespeare globe taken 1/12/15

Only a Renaissance play would use a crab as a metaphor.

Dear lord, I love the renaissance.

Either there's a meaning of lycanthropy that isn't werewolf related, or this play is about to get a lot more interesting.